Women are like teabags. We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water!

Where does the strength come from? The answer is not simple it never was, while generally men continue to simmer in the cauldron of change, resisting alteration to their personal philosophies passed down from generations of being a man.  It is only in the inherent characteristic of a woman to absorb, soak and dilute in the medium is what gives her the strength. As modern mothers we ridicule our boys not to fuss and cry like girls, we condition their thinking by training them to take care of the women folk of the house as an almighty protector, in the same breath we tell our girls to fiercely compete with men on equal footing.

In the true sense we start shaping her personality and her mental ability to challenge, adapt and absorb from a very nascent stage.  We are creating a world of men that will contradict her need for autonomy.  It is therefore, very natural that we often hear of society loosely tagging women of character as ‘unreasonable’ in their response to a situation, relationship, marriage, or work.  

The world for a woman is easy if she conforms, and difficult if she questions. Refusing to accept that which does not allow her the freedom to celebrate her woman-hood and on the other hand willingness to accept any unforeseen change and challenge makes her a ‘dichotomy of the one and many’.

Today, women do not adapt to the world around them but make their world adapt to them, and there are scores of examples in every household of such ‘unreasonable’ women who have shaped the new emerging society. It was in the past that competition was between men and that was a fair game because if you lost, you lost to another man, but when a man competes against a woman, the only option is to win hands down. A loss in any form and capacity is unmanly and devastating. In every confrontational situation, society immediately demands a woman to step back and silences her spirit, her grace is in her quiet protests and endless tears.

As it’s natural for men want to be respected, listened to, and revered to most of the times as Kings of their back garden, in the same light the need for protection and gentleness from her man is natural for a woman. In the light of the ongoing societal changes this is becoming increasingly difficult and the divide is becoming greater. The challenge for a modern woman is to gently take some small steps back while unfortunately for a man is to make that giant leap forward.

Until then…. the strength of a woman’s character will be tested by varying degrees of difficulties and obstacles society imposes.Afterall, the strong Indian masala chai does stir up your senses.